Friday, September 25, 2009

Running Mojo is Back!

In my first week of official marathon training I have actually really enjoyed my running, in fact I think I have rediscovered my running mojo. I even felt good doing my running training with my coach on Thursday night despite the fact that it included four runs up Anderson Street - with gentle recovery runs down.

Another fun thing that happened this week was that my photographer extraordinaire, Wee-Ming sent me some fantastic photos from the 'Fire and Ice Soiree' which are now posted on the A2A Facebook site. But I thought I would put up at least one here, it shows the team of fantastic people who helped me put the event together - they even look happy about it. Big thanks to my major sponsor People Teams Leaders who allowed Ric to travel from Sydney to MC the event - he was instrumental in the smooth running and success of the event.

All right another big event this week was the fact that my story was published in 'That's Life'. And just in case the demand for this weeks issue has led to all the copies being sold here is a version for my readers to see. You know the readership of That's Life is over 1.1 million people, a good effort. Photo credits go to Wee-Ming Boon and Warren Tharle - thanks guys.
I have also now obtained medical insurance for Antarctica from one of the few companies that can actually insure you in Antarctica!!!! So now I will be covered in case of a medical emergency. I also got clearance from my GP who was very impressed with my blood pressure and heart rate - long distance running is great for keeping blood pressure and heart rate low!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

12 weeks until Antarctica Marathon!!!!!

I think I have now only just started to forget the pain and heat of Alice Springs and now it's time to start all over again with marathon training for Antarctica!! I thought some of you might be interested to see what my marathon training consisted of so here it is! The green line is the days I do my 5km race Albert Park Lake with the Gunn Runners. The blue bar is the day I do my speed training session with my Running Coach. I have already completed Day 1 - which consisted of - no running, quite easy actually. I must admit though I still like to keep active so instead of running this morning I did a 60 minute bike ride along Beach Road - it is really lovely to get out there first thing in the morning and this morning a fellow cyclist even waved at me!

The other exciting news of today was the publication of an article in the Snowgum Members Mag - Summer 09 Issue. Just in case some of you aren't members - and why not! here is the article in question, thanks to Shahan at Science of Copy for the great words and Photographer extraordinaire Wee-Ming for his great photos! Let's hope this interests a lot of people and my message goes wide and far - and some more fundraising opportunities would be great too!
Oh and my other news for the day is that I have set a date for a Fundraising Shopping Tour - it will be Saturday 7th November a perfect time to organise your Christmas Gifts!!! The price for a seat will be purely dependent on the numbers - that is, the more people that come the cheaper it gets! So for 24 people price is $43 and if we managed to get 49 people the cost would go down to $16 - cool! I will need to pay the whole fee by the 20th of October so drop me a line if you are keen. More details to follow later but the company we are going through is Jackies Shopping Tours.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Working Hard in Cairns

I suddenly realised that I hadn't updated my blog in a while. I have been kept quite busy with finalising all the details from the Fire and Ice Soiree, my day job, running and cycling training, my part-time studies and oh yeah the scientific conference in Cairns.

Before I see you all shaking your heads about combining the words 'conference and Cairns' it's the truth. I attended the 20th Stroke Society of Australasia Annual Scientific Meeting in Cairns last week and it was great. I learnt lots of cool new things like the fact that stroke resulting from a single gene is rare and is more likely to result from a range of genes that for example control blood pressure and cholesterol (important risk factors for developing stroke).

Also the fact that in the community many people are still unaware of the signs and symptoms of stroke. So maybe I can ask my readers what does FAST stand for? Any clues - something to do with stroke? Still not sure? Okay its a way to help people easily recognise the early warning signs of stroke. Specifically:

FACE Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?
ARMS Can they lift both arms?
SPEECH Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?
TIME Time is critical. If you see any of these signs, call 000 now!

So now we have all learnt something new and potentially something that could save a life!

I also managed to do a couple of runs in Cairns, increasing my level of physical activity and thereby reducing my risk of stroke! My runs also included a 5km race along the boardwalk where I came third - pretty cool huh. Actually it was quite warm and I was working hard towards the end. Strangely enough while in sunny, warm Cairns I managed to catch a cold which wasn't so fun.

I have now started back into my running routine with a regular tuesday night run with the Gunn Runners just a snappy 5km around Albert Park Lake with a few running friends (well about 40 actually). I also did my laps around Fawkner Park before work - it's actually kind of nice to start the day with a run especially as the sun is rising and the day is unfolding!